Fence guard wire brace



1932- w. e. HAEHL FENCE GUARD WIRE BRACE Filed March 9, 1932 Patented Dec. 27, 1932 UNITED STATES WILLIAM G. I-IAEHL, OF NEAR MANILIJA, INDIANA FENCE GUARD WIRE BRACE Application filed March 9, 1932. Serial no. 597,655.

This invention' relates to the art of fence guard wire braces or supports. It often happens that woven wire fences become damaged v by stock rubbing against them or mashing them down and it has been the practice to run a strand of barbed Wire along the inner side of the fence and to space that wire inwardly somewhat from the fence so as to hold the stock back from the fence by reason of the presence of that wire.

It is a primary object of my invention to form a brace or support for that barbed wire which will effectively maintain the wire at a fixed distance from the fence. A further primary object is to provide a very simple form of support which may be produced at an extremely low cost so that the use of the support will not be prohibitive in long lines of fences. A further primary object of the invention is to provide a support which may be adjustably positioned upon the various fence posts in such a manner as to support the barbed wire at the desired spacing from the fence. A still further important object of the invention is to make the support in a single unitary piece so that no assembling of various parts is required upon the installation thereof. A still further important object is to form the support with suitable feet or attaching members that'may be secured to the fence posts either by the ordinary staples in the case of wood posts or by twisting a wire about the foot of the support on metal posts where no particular provision is made to receive staples therethrough. A still further important object of the invention is to so form the feet of the support that the support may be swiveled upon the posts so that when the barbed Wire is removed temporarily, the supports may be turned around toward the :fence to be out of the way.

These and other important objects and advantages will become apparent to those versed 5 in the art in the following description of the invention as illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a support embodying my invention;

Fig. 2, a view in perspective of the brace as applied to a fence;

tend to hold it in a fixed position although the 'ed therefrom by means of a short loop of wire Fig. 3, a side elevation of the support as secured to a wooden post in a modified manner as compared to that in Fig. 2;

Fig. 1, a top plan View of a support having a modified attaching foot as applied to a metal post and V -Fig. 5, a fragmentary top plan View of the support attached to a metal post by means of a staple. v:

Like characters of referenceindicate like parts throughout the several views in the drawing. 7 I

1 form a support to have a very simple form as illustrated in Fig. 1 to have a length of heavy galvanized wire having a diameter 7 of about three-sixteenths of an inch bent around circularly to form anouter eye 10 from which the two ends of the wire are carrled rearwardly as the upper and lower legs 11 and 12 respectively to terminate in the upturned and downturned feet 13 and 14 respectively. The eye is formed by simply coiling the wire around to have at least one complete revolution to form and effect a coil spring. The legs 11 and 12 may be spread apart as indicated by the dash lines to varyv the distance therebetween and hence vary the distance of the eye 10 from'a straight line joining the feet 13 and 14.

Referring to Fig. 2,v the usual Woven wire fence 15 is here shown as being supported by a post 16. 1 The support is attached to the post 16 by driving staples 17 and 18 into the post 16 to straddle respectively the feet 13 and 14. The legs 11 and 12 are previously spread apart. or drawn together so,-as to space the eye 10 at the desired distance inwardly from the post 16. As the support is thereby attached to the post 16,.the staples 17 and 18 0 support may be rocked. around upon a sufiicient pull thereon. A barbed wire 20 is then stretched along on the inner side of the'post 16 and is pulled up to the eye 10 and support- 21 passed through the eye 10 and round about the wire 20 to have its ends twisted together. I find thatsuch a support as I have described of relatively light material is very effective in supporting the wire 20' and by reason of its small diameter warns any person who is climbing over the fence from stepping on it and bending it down as is often the case where a heavier type brace is employed. lVhile the method of attaching the brace or support to the post as shown in Fig. 2 gives very good results and permits quite a little flexibility to prevent bending when stock accidentally strike the wire 20, the same support may be rigidly attached to a post as indicated in Fig. 3 wherein the feet 13 and 14 instead of being brought up against the inner face of the post are placed on a side of the post to have staples 22 and 2a driven thereover into the post and to further have staples 25 and 26 driven overthe legs 11 and 12 so as to prevent anyswinging motion of the support. In this method of attaching the support to the post, the support cannot be roc 'ed out of the way back against the fence should it be desired to remove the barbed wire 20 temporarily. The method as shown in Fig. 2 has the further advantage in that the brace may be removed from the post without having to draw out the staples 17 and 18 by simply pressing the legs 11 and 12 toward each other so as to slip the feet 13 and 14 out from under the retaining staples. The natural elas- V ticity of the steel Wire employed is sufficient to retain the legs 11 and 12 in the position to which they may be spread when in use. I

In many rural communities it is customary at certain times of the year to take down fences temporarily, and in such case it will be of a particular advantage to have a structure which may be readily dismantled in the manner that the brace structure of this invention will permit. 7

Where the brace or support is to be attached to metal posts the same foot as above described may be employed as in Fig. 5 where the post said leg portions apart to abut said attaching means, and for extending the said foot portions through the said attaching means to couple the said brace with the fence post. I In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

' WILLIAM G. HAEHL.

27 is formed with eyes or holes therethrough.

In this case the foot of the support may be pulled up tightly against the face of the post by placing a staple 29 over the foot and then forcing the staple through the hole 28 and spreading out its legs on the back side of the post so as to clinch it into position. Where the posts are not suitably formed with the holes 28 therein, the support may be formed with a hook-like foot as indicated in Fig. 4 wherein the rear ends of the legs 11 and 12 instead of being upturned and downturned as indicated in Fig. 1 are each formed to have the rear end carried horizontally around hehind the post 30 to have the free ends of the wire brought around in front so that a loop of wire 31 may be placed around the respective leg and end and twisted together to draw the two members toward each other so as to cause them to be clamped snugly around the post.

WVhile I have here shown and described my invention in the form as now best known to me it is obvious that structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit 

